• Saxophone soloist (alto, soprano, or both) and wind band (standard instrumentation)

• Three movements, attacca; approximately 12 minutes

• Virtuosic solo part

• Approximately Grade 5 ensemble writing; built for long-term programmability

• Persian-influenced color and texture on a tonal foundation with strong narrative arc

• World premiere timeline: Spring 2027

• Auspicious (UCO Wind Symphony)

• Where Joy Leaves a Shadow (UCO Symphonic Band)

• The Sound of What Remains (orchestra)

• Dawn of a Burnt City (winds + strings)

I am a Persian composer originally from Iran whose music explores identity, memory, and human connection through sound. My work brings together Iranian musical traditions and Western classical idioms, not as a surface blend, but as a living dialogue shaped by experience, displacement, and perspective. More about my work can be found at my website.

My path into music was not direct. I did not grow up with an instrument in my hands. Before music, I lived in other worlds. I spent years on soccer fields, imagining a life inside stadiums, driven by discipline and competition. Later, I studied electrical engineering, learning to think in systems, logic, and structure. When I finally chose music, I chose it fully, committing myself to the long and demanding journey of becoming a composer and attending higher education for it.

Now, as I live as an artist, I feel a different kind of relationship with the world. I try to remain quiet, listen carefully, and to observe before I react. And in doing so, something begins to shift. I feel that I have lost a version of myself, and I am no longer certain of what I know. Yet within this uncertainty, there is a quiet hope. A hope that through this process, I might discover a new self. Like a living being shedding its skin, slowly and painfully, but necessarily.

This transformation carries another layer. I come from one side of the world and now live in another. My background, my upbringing, my culture, my literature, and my musical language all come from a different place. I constantly ask how these parts of me can exist together. Not in conflict, but in conversation.

I write about these questions, not because I have answers, but because I believe in dialogue. I believe ideas become meaningful when they are questioned, challenged, and reshaped by others. In my recent article, at I Care If You Listen, I reflect on this tension and ask how far we can bring different traditions together while still respecting their depth and meaning.

This concerto is a story. In many ways, it is my story within this universe.

As I grow older, as I read more, listen more, and experience more, I find myself not closer to answers, but further from them. There is a saying in Iranian culture: you must know a lot before you realize how little you know. I heard this many times growing up, but only now do I begin to feel its truth. Knowledge does not always bring clarity. Sometimes, it opens doors into uncertainty.

It feels as though one must get lost before finding anything real. Not by accident, but by choice and courage. By stepping into the unknown without knowing what will return. And this process is not gentle. It carries doubt, discomfort, and transformation.

This concerto is another way of asking that question. But this time, through sound.

At its heart are two characters. The saxophone, which represents the self, and the ensemble, which represents the universe. They begin as strangers. Like a newborn entering the world, there is confusion, distance, and a sense of not belonging. The saxophone speaks, but the world does not yet respond in a familiar way. The ensemble surrounds it, vast, shifting, and unknown. As the piece unfolds, they begin to interact. Sometimes they resist each other. Sometimes they listen. Sometimes they misunderstand. Their relationship moves through stages, like a story where nothing is fixed and everything is in motion.

The saxophone remains a personal voice, searching, questioning, expressing. The ensemble becomes a living landscape, changing in color, texture, and energy. At times it supports. At times it challenges. At times it overwhelms. It reflects the complexity of the world we are all trying to understand.

Over time, something begins to change. Through shared moments, through persistence, through listening, the distance slowly softens. What once felt unfamiliar becomes closer. Not the same, but connected. The realization is quiet, but powerful. Beneath all differences, there is a shared root. 

Musically, the concerto draws from Iranian modes, carrying my cultural memory and identity, alongside contemporary textures and a strong sense of atmosphere. Ornamentation and phrasing remain flexible and expressive, allowing the music to breathe, to bend, and to evolve. The goal is not to imitate tradition, but to create a sound world where influences meet, transform, and grow together.

This piece is a journey. An attempt to find something true, even if only for a moment. And perhaps that is enough to find oneself, even briefly, before getting lost again.

— Hamed Erfani, composer

• Co-premiere the work with the designation "World Premiere"

• Full score and parts delivered February 22, 2027 (1st phase delivery)

• First right of refusal for commercial recording

• Joshua Heaney guaranteed as featured concerto soloist

• Optional composer residency with Hamed Erfani

• Exclusive performance rights through January 2029

• Perpetual right to perform the work at no additional cost

• Perform the work with the designation "Regional Premiere"

• Full score and parts delivered September 15, 2027 (2nd phase delivery)

• First right of refusal for commercial recording

• Joshua Heaney available as featured soloist at no additional cost

• Exclusive performance rights through January 2029

• Perpetual right to perform the work at no additional cost

• Full score and parts delivered January 15, 2028 (3rd phase delivery)

• First right of refusal for commercial recording

• Exclusive performance rights through January 2029

• Perpetual right to perform the work at no additional cost

• Note: soloist not included; ensembles provide their own

• Solo part delivered January 15, 2028 (3rd phase delivery)

• First right of refusal for commercial recording of solo part

• Exclusive performance rights through January 2029

• Perpetual right to perform the solo part at no additional cost

• Note: ensemble parts not included; must be purchased separately